The question remains: Who can stop the Springboks after hammering of Wales?

The home leg of Springboks’ Nations Championship campaign has ended with the same question that was there when it started. Who can stop the world champions after they humbled Wales 43-0?

At a packed Kings Park in the best winter weather Durban could provide, the Boks added 43 points to the tally that has been escalating since they humbled arrogant England on July 4. In three games, against the Six Nations teams England, Scotland and Wales, the Boks have amassed 130 points and scored 20 tries.

But, scarily for the opposition, they have done that while rotating their squad each week to grow their squad depth even further.

Among the debutants closely watched on Saturday was 20-year-old flyhalf Vusi Moyo. Let’s be honest here; he was okay but hardly shot the lights out as he overcooked kicks in the opening 20 minutes, but recovered to crosskick for a try.

I would give him five out of 10. His Sharks teammate, Aphelele Fassi, I would rate lower as he continues to hold on to his Springbok fullback position by the skin of his teeth.

In the opening minutes, Moyo had a few nervy up-and-unders that were inaccurate.

It took five minutes of route-one rugby from the Boks for the player who is probably more direct than any other on the planet, Jasper Wiese, to crash through flailing defenders for the opening score. The conversion gave Moyo his first points in international rugby.

Cobus Wiese, the younger brother of Jasper, was doing a good job of emulating his “boet” with his rampant carries. One such rampage was held up just short of the line, and from the set scrum, the lunge forward from the pack gave Cobus Reinach an armchair cruise to the line. It was the scrumhalf’s 20th try in 52 tests.

Around the half-hour mark, the bulldozing Bok scrum produced two gilt-edged opportunities to score only for butter-fingered support runners to spill the ball.

Moyo’s clearances for touch could have been longer, but his crosskick late in the first half produced a try for Jesse Kriel, and a 19-0 lead at the break.

The sentiment in the 45,000 crowd was that Wales would crumble in the second half, and when Jaco Williams scored on debut from the restart, the widespread pre-match predictions of a 50-point walloping were on course.

Coach Rassie Erasmus had his hands to his face as his players butchered an avalanche of chances on the Wales 22 before replacement scrumhalf Herschel Jantjies scampered through for the Boks’ fifth try, in the 63rd minute, and for a 31-0 lead.

It got worse for the visitors because replacement prop Ben Warren was yellow-carded for a high tackle in the build-up.

The pressure on Wales as the third quarter dawned was as predictable as it was inordinate. As the Springbok phases mounted against the back-pedaling Welsh, Libbok flung a massive pass out wide to Kurt-Lee Arendse, who sped to the corner for his team’s sixth try.

Scorers

Springboks — Tries: Jasper Wiese, Cobus Reinach, Jesse Kriel, Jaco Williams, Herschel Jantjies, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Paul de Villiers. Conversions: Vusi Moyo (3), Manie Libbok.

Wales — Zero.